It's funny how your concept of "home" changes, and the things that change it.
This time yesterday, if anyone had asked, you'd have said, inwardly, anyway, whatever words your mouth let the questioner hear, that you didn't have a home.
Asked about luck, you probably would have said that yours has been somewhat bad recently.
Today, you are thanking whatever spirit or being led you to insist that everybody, well, Sarah and Cat, take the day off and go have a shower.
While the others really prefer the nearby creek, you have been unable to wean yourself from the lure of standing under a spray of hot water.
Your absence slowed the carpet team down, or at least you like to think that's what it was, although you realize that your greatest contribution to "real work" will probably always be as the provider of comic relief.
The luck part is that no one was there, at least no one was visible to the police when they went back behind the Red Lobster to "clean up" the wooded area.
Someone must have seen the fire. Anyway, it's all gone. Huts, stuff, Concepcion's little herb patch. the oven Chucho made from scrap bricks, all of it. They destroyed your home. You have never seen Sarah look this tired. Cat has withdrawn into herself, while the three of you are taking it pretty hard, no one else seems to be very upset. Used to happen to us every few months in Guatemala, says Lalo, he winks at you. CIA. Everyone thinks this is uproariously funny, and every few minutes someone pokes you, laughs, and calls you CIA as you walk (no one has bus fare) to a new place he heard about, more secluded.
Come on, Concepcion tells Sarah. We're all here, no one's hurt. What did we have there that we won't find in the dumpster when we get to the new place? It's good to move once in a while. Trees, Lalo tells her, and they laugh, and you have another one of those major duh moments.
Home is not a building, or part of one, or even a hut. Home is people, and none of you is homeless.
The new place is closer to a creek, too. Location, location, location, you think as you understand for the first time why Lalo and Chucho keep machetes strapped to their legs. Always. As your concept of "home" is evolving, so is your concept of "skilled." Lalo's mom, Luz Maria, pulls a little cloth patch from somewhere in her uniquely multicultural, century-spanning ensemble and gives it to Concepcion, who tells Lalo to take a break and chops up the ground with his machete, lines it off, and sprinkles her seeds in.
Sarah is exhausted, collapses on a tree trunk and fishes around in her pocket. Matches. Make a fire, she frowns at you, Cat's cold, and all you can do is look at her, jaw on the ground. You are not the only one whose idea of what "home" means is changing. Juan is back from the dumpster, plastic, an old 5 gallon drum. He grins, and fumbles under the lining of his jacket. Beans. his emergency stash. In a few hours, there are huts, there are beans, and you and your wife are back to your normal occupation of staring at your daughter, the elephant in the living room. But Cat is not thinking about herself tonight. She wants to talk about someone else's future. A Them girl at school, well, Very Recently Them. This girl needs help, Cat says, it's like, you, know, what happened with Kevin, you see your son's eyes, flinch. They aren't doing the foster care thing any more, not because of too many situations like that, that's just something that happens to kids, but there aren't enough foster homes. Very Recently Them is a rapidly growing demographic. Predictably, you are the only one whose mind is even crossed by the thought that you will be harboring a runaway minor, and you are strangely comforted that no one pays the slightest bit of attention to you, of course she is welcome, Cat's friend.
Lalo and Juan are making a truck. That's the only way you can explain what they are doing. For weeks they have been "finding" stray parts of vehicles, or maybe refrigerators, you can't really tell, and every night they tinker away at it. Lalo uses the time to teach Juan Quiche. You hadn't realized it, but Spanish is the family's second language. Someone looked a little too hard at Juan on a carpet job, so Lalo thinks it would be a good idea if he learns a little Quiche, just to be on the safe side.
Cat. Your eyes follow her, you look for clues in every thing she does, everything she says. You have told the school that it is up to Cat, her life, her decision. You hope you sounded sincere. Sarah is learning carpet now, Lalo is amused, Luz Maria seems mildly scandalized, Concepcion seems a little preoccupied lately, focused on a cloud of her own. It is a busy time, lots of carpet work, you are not really sure when you realized that Cat has stopped going to school.
Coming soon- Part 9: Hanging on by a thread
Here are links to the first 7 for those who haven't read them, and want to.
Part 1
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=582245Part 2
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=582475Part 3
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=582720Part 4
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=583418Part 5
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=585259Part 6
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=586600Part 7
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=587489
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